The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a number of base pieces, such as glass pieces or pieces of silicon substrate that are made to adhere to an adhesive sheet, as well as to a manufacturing method for a semiconductor wafer and a manufacturing method for a semiconductor device which utilize this manufacturing method for base pieces that are made to adhere to an adhesive sheet.
A technology has been disclosed where glass is made to adhere to chips in wafer state, so as to cover the image sensor portions of the respective chips, which are then separated from each other, and thereby, damage to the image sensor portions caused by scratches and the attachment of debris to the image sensor portions can be prevented (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-151666(1991)). Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-151666(1991), however, does not describe how small pieces of glass which are made to adhere to the image sensor portions are manufactured.
In addition, a manufacturing technique for pieces of glass which are used as lids provided with packages of semiconductor elements having light receiving portions, such as semiconductor elements of memories that are programmable/erasable by means of ultraviolet rays (EPROM's) or CCD's, has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Applictaion Laid-Open No. 5-41461(1993)).
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-41461(1993), it is necessary to cut a glass plate in order to manufacture glass pieces, and a problem arises where the removal of glass chips that are created at the time of cutting may be insufficient. FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing conventional steps for manufacturing glass pieces. An adhesive sheet 41 is made to adhere to glass 42 in plate form (FIG. 1A). Next, glass 42 is cut using a blade 43, so as to be separated into a number of pieces of glass 42a (FIG. 1B). Then the separated pieces of glass 42a are one by one peeled from adhesive sheet 41, and are utilized as lids of, for example, packages of semiconductor elements.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged diagram of region A in FIG. 1B. Glass chips 45 are created at the time of cutting of glass 42 as shown in FIG. 1B. The created glass chips 45 are attached to glass pieces 42a due to static electricity. In the case where a piece of glass 42a in the state where glass chips 45 are attached is utilized for a semiconductor device, these glass chips 45 sometimes cause a defect in the semiconductor device. Accordingly, it is necessary to remove the created glass chips 45 so that glass chips 45 do not adhere to pieces of glass 42a. Thus, a means for removing glass chips 45 through the blowing of a gas or by washing with water has conventionally been carried out, wherein a problem arises where a gas or water for removing the chips do not sufficiently reach particularly the corner portions (regions B in FIG. 2) of the cut parts, and glass chips 45 are not completely removed and are left in the corner portions.